Well - what a confusion. I thought I was watching a film called Kairat (described by film historian Neil McGlone as 'one of the best films of the nineties) so when I saw the title above it did seem rum - but then some films have more than one name. It turns out I wasn't looking at the DVD menu very closely because Kairat is the second film on the disc. This is a very good drama from Kazakhstan about a boy who is sent to a Russian-speaking convalescent home in Alma-Ata (the largest city in Kazakhstan), makes no friends and develops an interest in women generally and his nurse specifically. Ends with a note of Les Quatres Cent Coups as he escapes to an uncertain future.
Very quiet and minimal, short, simple filming with a good eye for details - Kazak embroidery, mosaics, the girl waiting for the date, the mirror falling over, the burning painting. Boris Trochev is on camera. It's a slow burner - you keep thinking about it after it's finished - a sign of the best films. It's autobiographical, to the extent that as a boy, Omirbaev did spend a month at a convalescent home and spoke Russian poorly. He likes to put his own life into his films.
Swear that scene near the beginning references North by Northwest:
(And someone's playing The Godfather theme on a piano later.)
"Red leaves fall from the trees. Grass red from wooden blood. Do you remember your happiness as the grasshopper was staring at you? No hostility in my forest, pools of light on the grass. On your arm, an ant was walking, before it disappeared. Birds were singing unknown melodies. Tobol was mute behind the trees." Unfortunately could not track down this rather good excerpt the nurse is reading. Tobol is the country's principal river.
Zhasulan Asauov is rather good as the boy. With Saule Toktybaevo, Alynai Tatybekova, Goulnara Dusmatova, Serik Joubandykov.
I was thinking that it doesn't really matter what country a film is from, because cultural differences aside, stories and themes are pretty much universal. I'm looking forward to watching my next film from Kazakhstan soon.
Didn't get that film is set in USSR era, thus Russian is the major language spoken.
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